A UND professor is suing the
university in federal court, charging that she was the victim of sexual
harassment and discrimination in the UND psychology department.Dr.
Sheila Deitz, associate professor of psychology, says in a complaint filed this
week in U.S. District Court in Fargo, she has suffered lost wages, emotional
distress, loss of her constitutional rights and other damages because of the way
men in the department treated her.

She accuses UND of a "hostile,
threatening and offensive work environment," created primarily by one male
colleague.She blames the
loss of her post as director of clinical training to retaliation from the
department for her complaints.

Deitz charges that women students also were subjected to an intimidating
atmosphere.

A UND faculty member since 1985, Deitz has been on leave the past year at the
University of Denver.

She
names as defendants UND, the State Board of Higher Education, President Thomas
Clifford, Dr. Mark Grabe, the chairman of the psychology department, Bernard
O'Kelly, dean of the UND College of Arts and Sciences and Bill Beckwith, a
psychology professor on leave out of state.

The complaint says Deitz unsuccessfully tried other avenues including the UND
faculty grievance process, the state Labor Department and the Equal Employment
Opportunities Commission (EEOC).

Psychology chairman Grabe said Tuesday he didn't see the complaint, which was
filed Monday and assigned to U.S. Judge Rodney Webb. "Since I haven't seen
it, I don't really have much to say. She brought similar claims on campus, and
they were dismissed.

She
filed an EEOC complaint with the state, and that was dismissed. The EEOC summary
said, in effect, what you have left to do is file a suit, and that appears to be
what she's done."Defendant
O'Kelly said, "EEOC found no substance to the charges brought. But I
haven't seen the complaint, so I don't know if there any new changes."Other defendants weren't available.Deitz, who's represented by a
Denver law firm, asks that compensation be determined during a trial.

Among allegations in the complaint:

After joining the department in August 1986, "Dr. Dietz was soon
subjected to disparate treatment in that she was not provided with any
secretarial support while she was director of clinical training, even though
her predecessor and her successor, who are both males, were afforded full
secretarial support in that position.

"The sexual harassment included male professors in her department,
particularly Professor Beckwith, referring to her in extremely derogatory
fashion, refusing to speak to her, making inappropriate comments in faculty
meetings, displaying sexually hostile material in their offices, as well as
making derogatory gender-based-comments about Dr. Deitz to students in the
psychology department."

Intimidating activities included "sexual advances to students by
faculty members, sexual relationships of faculty members with female
students, threatening remarks made to female students, and disparate
treatment of the female students in the form of ranking them low for
purposes of competitive scholarships and research support grants."

Opposition by Deitz to the way women students and other women in the
department were treated was met "with retaliatory measure."

Opposition by Deitz to the way women students and other women in the
department were treated was met "with retaliatory measure."

Reference: Grand Forks Herald,
April 8, 1992

P.S. This matter was resolved when UND settled with Sheila Deitz in an out of
court settlement costing the taxpayers of North Dakota nearly $250,000.00.